Ghosts Among Kings
by EternalCanadian
Summary: Thrown through space and time, two Spartan III's must overcome their inner turmoil's and daemons if they hope to survive in the land of ice and fire, and the inhabitants of this world will find their beliefs and perceived truths about the world shaken to the core as cultures collide, alliances are formed and war shatters all.
1. Prologue

**A/N**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to this crossover, my first Game of Thrones, at that.**

 **This story Is of course rated M, for violence, gore, sexual themes and generally everything one would expect from an episode of GOT.**

 **Obviously I own nothing but my OC's, GOT and the wonderful books its based on are owned by GRRM and HBO, and Halo is owned by 343I and Microsoft.**

 **If you see a bolded number between brackets (like so [1]) this means I will talk about the sentence or paragraph it is attached to/explain my reasons for including it in a below authors note at the end of the chapter.**

 **With that said, lets begin with the prologue, shall we?**

* * *

 **Thebas VI, Covenant Colony, 13:48 hours, April 16th, 2545, (UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time)**

Thebas VI was a hellhole among hellholes, though, whether that was due to its weather conditions or the inhabitants that called it home Tara would never know.

What she did know, however, was that the purple of Sangheili blood reflected beautifully off its white sandy dunes. Her combat knife was shoved up to the hilt in the neck of an Elite that was still trying to choke her to death. She smiled viscously and twisted the knife before bringing it up into the Elite's skull, splitting it in two. The things dying screams were music to her ears.

The sound of another hostile rushing her from behind caught her ears, and she wretched her knife from the alien skull and spun, kicking up sand and blood as she faced her foe.

Depressingly, the hostile, an Elite wearing nothing but a robe, was already dead, felled by a precise single shot to the back of it's neck.

She sighed sadly, robbed of her kill. "That was mean Matt."

The dune to the far left shifted and stood, revealing an armoured figure wearing a drab brown hooded cloak. An M392 Designated Marksman Rifle with a suppressor, extended magazine and long ranged scope was held in his hands, at ease. Tara could just make out the golden faceplate of a SPI visor behind the hood.

"You told me to cover you." The figure, Matt, whispered as he cradled his rifle. "So I did, despite the fact you shouldn't have run in guns blazing." He gestured to the sandy dunes around them, and to the seven Elite corpses lying dead among them. "You could have died."

"Nu-uh." Tara shot back, sticking her tongue out at Matt from behind her own SPI faceplate as she sheathed her knife and made sure her other armaments, an MA5K carbine with a suppressor (currently unattached and stored in her rucksack) and a suppressed M7 SMG, were still attached to her armour and viable to use. "I'm unkillable."

"Yeah? Boom, your dead." Matt joked, pointing his rifle at her. She chuckled and pointed up the dunes, towards the NAV markers on their HUDS.

"Building was a click that'ta way." She said, starting out over the dunes, towards the sunset. Matt nodded and followed her, stopping for a moment to kick sand over the blood.

The pair were ONI special ops, SPARTAN III's, more specifically, the elite and secretive Headhunters. Tara-B032 and Matthew 'Matt'-B417 respectively. **[1]**

They were only children. Matt was twelve and Tara ten, his junior by two years.

As Tara crested another dune she saw the red hued planet of Thebas V, uninhabitable to anyone, human or Covenant. Though, the Spartan thought, it did look pretty.

On the dune just in front of her the structure they were heading towards stood vigilant, alone yet welcoming.

It was a two storey structure, probably a hermit hut or something, not that the two Spartans cared. So long as it was shelter, and provided a good vantage point to their objective.

They cleared it quickly and carefully, doing a total of two sweeps of each floor.

The hut had four rooms in total, with the upper floor being w single, large room and the ground floor divided by a kitchen, lounge and sleeping area. The upper floor was one big training or meditation room, and the Headhunters set up in there, facing a large window looking towards their objective, a small village maybe a day's trek away.

Their mission was simple, cause chaos in anyway possible. They had the entire system of Thebas to do so, and the Sangheili were plentiful yet complacent. This was a colony world, not military, but a civilian world. Despite this, it provided soldiers to the war effort, and so, it would burn.

This was *their* Harvest, or Madrigal, their Jericho VII or Arcadia. And the Headhunters wanted it to die.

There were no rules of engagement, no noncombatants, age, gender, race didn't matter. If it didn't have a UNSC IFF tag, it died, no exceptions.

One wouldn't be scolded or wrong to ask why only two Spartans had been sent to do this, and why a fleet wasn't mustered in their place. The truth was, while no one wanted to say it, humanity was losing the war, on all fronts, and it was only a matter of time until it all came crashing down in fire and glass. Despite the best efforts of ONI Section II propaganda officials, everyone knew, deep down, that time was running out, and that people were getting desperate. Humanity didn't have enough ships, enough people, enough time.

Humanity couldn't fight conventionally, not well enough, so they would fight unconventionally, without regard for ethics or morals, laws or treaties, they would fight the Covenant even after they had vanished from the Galaxy, as ghosts. The Headhunters were to wage a war of fear, of terror. Their job was to make the Covenant fear the dark, the shadows, make them question if it was worth it to keep fighting. **[2]**

As far as Tara was concerned, they were doing a damn good job at it.

"Who's up first for watch?" Matt asked as he looked out the window towards the village.

"Can you take it? I need to remove my bodysuit quickly," Tara stated, placing her weapons on a long table and removing her helmet, allowing her pale face to see the light of day. "There is sand in places sand should never go." She explained with a frown.

Matt shook his head and muttered something unintelligible before holding up his hand, his five fingers extended. "Five minutes."

Tara nodded and began the process of removing her armour and bodysuit, piece by piece her pale skin showed itself.

Compared to the other Headhunters of Beta Company, Tara seemed the most unchanged by the augmentations and training, and one only had to look for a moment to see she was a woman, or at least, would be, in a few years.

Her pale body was athletic and yet, slender and lithe, and had one not looked closely at her without the armour, she would seem like a regular girl, and not a child psychopath. Her soft red hair complemented her pale skin nicely, and her face was childish and cute, dotted with freckles. Her green-grey eyes had kept her innocence despite all that had been done to her, and she looked like someone at least two years younger than she was. Matt thought she would make an exceptional model, or actress based on her looks.

Despite the gruelling training and augmentations, her body was bereft of bruises or scrapes, putting her in stark contrast to Matt, who was covered in bruises and cuts, deep scars and gashes that would never completely heal, though they were hidden a tad by his tanned skin.

Tara undid the ponytail holding her long hair in place, and, as though a switch was flipped, her hair cascaded down her back and shoulders. She shook her head before focusing on the sand in her bodysuit.

Matt shook his head again at the sight of his nude partner before looking again out the window, towards the setting sun and the village beyond. "One minute." He muttered, resting his Battle Rifle on the window sill.

He only received a grunt in reply as she shook out her bodysuit.

"I can't believe you got sand in there anyway." Matt joked. "You were supposed to be airtight."

"I...-" _grunt "-..._ was!" She said back from behind him. "But fifteen hours in this suit takes it's toll."

"Tell me about it." Matt muttered, drumming his fingers on the stock of his rifle.

"Gladly." Tara said as she finished cleaning out her bodysuit and began to put it back on. Matt shook his head.

"I was joking." He sighed. "I can't believe, after what you did back there, that sand is your only concern."

"What, you mean in the last village? Please, nothing got in my suit." She scoffed.

"I meant your mental state." Matt replied dryly as he idly looked through the scope of his rifle at the town in the distance.

"My mental state is fine. I'm perfectly sane." Tara scoffed as she began cleaning her weapons using a small cleaning kit from her rucksack.

"You impaled an infant to a wall with a piece of its own bed. That isn't normal."

"I said _sane_ , not normal." Tara stated as she began cleaning the barrel of her pistol. "And besides, it's not like anyone cares about some random Elite baby." She continued with a shrug.

"It was pretty brutal, Tara. Even for you. If I didn't know you, I'd think you were a monster, or an animal." Matt stated with no ill intent. "Maybe a bear, or a wolf."

Tara gasped in mock anger. "Matthew, you _know_ I identify as a Unicorn Pegasus!"

Matt wiped a hand over his faceplate. "Unicorns and Pegasi-"

" _Pegasuses._ " Tara corrected confidently.

Matt sighed audibly. "-don't exist. You can't identify as something that doesn't exist."

"Say's who? You, farmer's boy?" Tara asked with a grin.

Matt sighed again. "I suppose its up to you. You are a princess, after all..."

Tara scoffed. "Don't play that card. I was the daughter of a planetary governor, whoopee do." She says.

"A pretty influential one, if what you said when we met is true." Matt joked.

"I'd say owning the planet that acted as the gateway to the outer colonies is pretty influential. And that isn't far, I was four." Tara muttered. "Certainly more influential than some gosh-darned farmer's boy from nowhere special." Tara said with a grin.

Matt nodded then began laughing, soon, Tara joined in and they spent the next several minutes exchanging jokes and well-meaning insults.

As the laughter died down, Matt looked through the scope of his rifle again before idly asking, "How long until check in?"

Thirty minutes." Tara replied, having finished cleaning her weapons.

"You wanna take it o-" Matt began before quickly aiming down the sight of his rifle. "Contacts. Civilian Elites, about half a dozen, incoming."

Tara grinned evilly. "Wanna take them out?"

Matt shook his head. "Let them come inside first, non lethal take downs only. We need information, and they can supply it."

A few minutes later, and the Elites walked inside. What Matt thought were six contacts were actually seven. Six adults, and a baby.

The Elites all moved to the top floor, where the 'hunters had placed themselves, invisible thanks to their SPI armour. They couldn't distinguish females from males, nor did they particularly want to, though, ONI would probably want one for dissection. Not this group though, the Spartan's wanted this group to themselves.

The adult carrying the baby lowered it onto a mat, taking off the blanket it was swaddled in, and allowing it to lay in the nude. The other Elites lowered their packs to the ground and began to unpack, it was a laborious affair, and it lasted far longer than it had any right to. Matt saw could tell Tara was on edge and tense, being so close but being forced to wait.

The two Spartan's waited for a solid hour, watching the group form a routine of sorts and get settled. The two of them picked targets, formed strategies and prepared to engage in melee.

Finally, Matt gave the signal and Tara giving a happy sound at being let free slowly crept up behind one of the adult Sangheili standing over the baby, entertaining it. Tara grinned behind her SPI helmet, invisible to everyone in the room. She would gladly assist the presumed mother in entertaining her babe, give the infant a show it would never forget.

Without care or remorse she plunged her blade messily through the adult's neck, forcing it out the other side before decapitating the mother, showering the baby in it's mother's purple blood as it started to scream.

Tara had already moved on though, having disembowelled one of the two other adults she had picked for targets and used her fist to cave in the third's skull, neither had time to react to the mirage. Fortunately, the other two Elites faired far better at the hands of Matt, the marksman leaving them relatively unharmed, if one considered both knees crushed as unharmed, of course.

The remaining Elite pulled a small sickle like blade from its robe, unfortunately, the mirages that were Tara and Matt were far to fast for the old Sangheili, and it was simply a matter of Tara breaking his sword hand and cutting him across the chest for him to yield, involuntarily.

After herding the three surviving Elite's into the middle of the room, Matt tied them up with rope he had found in one of the group's packs. The baby was left where it lay, drenched in its mother's blood. Matt scolded Tara for killing her three targets, but she brushed it off and approached one of the tied up Elites, her knife slowly sliding across its chest.

"Now, here's how this is gonna play out..."

* * *

One hour and several dead and tortured Elite's later the Headhunters left the hut and made for the village.

By this time, the sun had long since set, and visibility was low, even without a storm in sight.

They thankfully wouldn't have to worry about someone finding out about the bodies, Having stashed the dead in a large supply closet of sorts. The infant to, wasn't a worry, though, both Spartans had different assumptions as to why.

Matt had ordered Tara to kill it, but the young, sadistic Spartan had instead gagged it and, without a care for it's wellbeing, thrown it on top of the rest of it's dead family in the closet. Tara figured it was better for the thing to die alone in the dark, scared and afraid among it's dead loved ones, as she had nearly done only a few years ago, a little payback.

Had Matt known, he would have gone back and killed it himself, but he didn't know, and Tara didn't intend to tell him.

It would ruin the fun, after all.

The Elites had given them all they needed to know, thankfully, and they now knew more about why they were here, specifically.

When they had first arrived, the Prowler that inserted them had detected a massive energy reading in this village. Apparently, thanks to the locals assistance, the 'hunters now knew that it was some type of 'holy artifact' the Covenant had dug up nearby, and it was being stored in the village's main building until whatever Covenant equivalent of ONI's Xeno-Materials Group came to pick the thing up. Due to how far from the front they were, there were no guards to boot. It was a milk run in every way.

As they approached the village, pathetic that it was, they grew quieter, more careful. Tara finally attached her MA5K's suppressor, and the two Headhunters quickly fell into their usual routine.

 _"Griffin Two, cleared to move up the street."_ Matt said in a whisper, even over the secure Comm channel they shared. Tara acknowledged with a simple green light on their HUDS, moving up the Main Street, which was really no more than a well worn sandy path, quickly and quietly.

Unlike their predecessors of Alpha Company, or even their brothers and sisters in arms of Beta Company, the Headhunters of Beta Company had been allowed to choose their Fireteam designations, instead of being assigned ones. For whatever reason, the teams had all picked mythological beasts and creatures, Dragons, Hydras, Krakens, Minotaurs etc. **[3]**

Matt and Tara had chosen Griffin as their Fireteam designation, after the legendary tri-animalled predator of old folklore and stories. Matt, ever the artist, had handpainted a Griffin in colour on each of their left shoulder pads, and on the left of their breastplates. Underneath the Griffin, clutched in it's talons, was a painted on grey banner with the words _Veni Vidi Vici_ inscribed on it. Tara, the history buff of the duo, had practically begged Matt to add the words, and he had obliged, though, not without some internal confusion.

Tara's eyes briefly saw the Griffin in the corner of her peripherals as she quickly advanced on the target building, Matt a few paces behind her. The building a three storey atrium, presumably a meeting hall of sorts for the villagers to discuss issues pertaining to the village.

The 'hunters, of course, didn't quite care for it's purpose and quickly made their way inside with little fuss, seeing as there were no guards in sight. The two found that odd, but didn't really make a fuss over it.

True to their former captives words, they found no guards at the entrance, or any inside. They did find, however, a massive silver obelisk as tall as the building, and protected by a powerful energy shield.

"How are we supposed to deal with this?" Tara mutters as she approaches the shield, Matt watching her back.

"Don't know. Blow it? Should kill the stone, to." Matt replied, sparing a sideways glance at the shield. "I don't see a generator anywhere."

"Yeah. Right, I'll plant the charges, you cover m-." As Tara approached the obelisk it suddenly pulsates with energy, as if activating. The shield fizzled and creaked, trying to contain the energy build up.

"Tara?" Matt asked worriedly. "What did you do?"

"I-nothing! I don't know what's going on!" She shot back, unease creeping into her voice as the building shook.

"Out, get out, we'll plant the charges at the base of the building, then egress." Matt ordered, but Tara advanced on the pulsing obelisk, as if in a trance. "Tara!"

He moved to grab her arm and pull her away, but she had already touched the stone. "Damnit Tara snap out of-"

The Obelisk pulsed again, and everything went white.

* * *

 **Wolfswood, The Northern Realms, Westeros, 12:05 Hours (local time), 298 A.L (local calendar)**

Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell took a seat round the small campfire Jory had constructed. Despite it being midday, The hunting party had decided to rest their legs before continuing the search for game.

They had spent the past week on a hunt, the party, consisting of Lord Stark, his son Robb Stark, Bastard Jon Snow, Captain of the Stark's guard Jory Cassel, and the Stark Ward Theon Greyjoy. Fortunately, they had found several animals, but nothing worthy of a hunt.

"Think we'll find a Stag soon?" Robb asked Jon as the two boy's sat beside each other, each looking over their swords, Jon using a rock to sharpen his.

"One can hope, Lord Stark." Jory cut in, keeping watch. "We've been a week without seeing anything larger than a rabbit."

"Aye, but they were certainly good rabbits." Robb replied with a smirk.

"That they were Lord Robb." Jory nodded, chuckling. "That they were."

"We'll find good game yet, have patience." Eddard stated, eyeing the cloudless sky.

As if his words were some destined prophesy, a Stag suddenly came bursting out of the woods to their left, nearly trampling Theon, who had gone to relieve himself. Jory nocked an arrow and fired, getting a lucky hit on the Stag's eye, the arrow going through and into the brain, killing it.

The group gathered around the dead beast, Theon producing a knife to begin skinning the beast, but a hand from Lord Stark stayed his blade. "This Stag was running from something, it was frightened, scared." He said, musing over this as he surveyed the woods, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Follow me, we can skin it later."

* * *

 **Location Unknown, 21:45 hours, April 16th, 2545 (UNSC Military Calendar, Military Standard Time)**

Tara groaned groggily as her eyes fluttered open and she took a long, deep breath. Confusion was the first thing she felt as she looked up at the blue sky, so unlike Thebas VI's red hued one. She noticed trees around her, and saw Matt leaning against a rock, seemingly unconscious, like she had been.

She was on her back, yet still had her armour and helmet on, and was thus still airtight, something she was thankful for, as she had no idea where she was. Certainly not on the Covenant Colony anymore, there were no forests there, or anywhere in that system.

She took another breath before sitting up, only to sit back down and wince in annoyance. A root was sticking out of the ground, and jabbed her thigh when she sat up. The young Spartan scooted back a tad so as to avoid the root before standing up. To her surprise, and happiness she saw her rucksack and weapons laying out in front of her, though, she did find that somewhat odd.

She walked over to Matt and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Oddly, his cloak was missing, yet he still wore his SPI armour, and his weapons and rucksack were laid out identically to hers.

Despite everything in her bran telling her this was probably some trap she kept trying to wake Matt, not wanting to face this unknown area alone. "Matt, Matt wake up!" Thankfully, Matt groaned and mumbled something unintelligible, letting Tara know her brother was awake. "I thought you were dead, Matt!" Tara said before giving his shoulder another squeeze.

Matt groaned again and placed his hand on hers. "Gimme a minute, yeah?" Tara nodded obediently from behind her faceplate and crawled over to her rucksack and weapons, happily holstering her pistol on her thigh and attaching her Carbine to her back, after checking both had full magazines, of course. That was another odd thing, she noted. She could have sworn she fired a pistol round through the kneecap of an Elite earlier, yet, she found the magazine full, and she knew she hadn't changed it. Shrugging and deciding she could talk with Matt about it later, she next went to her rucksack, to ensure everything she would need was inside and it was as she left it.

 _Spare Ammunition? Check._

 _Underwear? Check._

 _Toiletries? Check._

 _'Personal' toiletries? Check._

 _P.T gear? Check._

 _Fatigues? Check_

 _Dress Uniform? Check._

 _Extra socks? Check._

 _Holo-projector? Check._

 _Datapad? Check._

After ensuring the rucksack had everything, she went through both toiletry kits, the general one issued to everyone in the UNSC, carrying such items like toothpaste, toothbrush, a small comb, shaving kit, sleeping pills and a small mirror. The other, smaller kit was issued to every service member who put _'female'_ on the forms. **[4]** Finishing her check, she nodded to Matt as he began going through his own rucksack, having already checked his weapons.

"Where are we?" Tara asked him, replacing her toiletry kits into their proper spaces in her 'sack. "Doesn't look like Thebas."

"I don't think it is. I can't get an uplink with STARS." Matt stated, surprisingly calm considering the situation, the polar opposite of Tara.

"Neither can I." Tara stated, her hands visibly shaking, a nervous tick. "What do we do?"

"Your armour good? Any breaches?" Matt asked, somewhat ignoring her question as he swept his rifle a round him in a full circle, searching for threats.

"My suit's green. I'm airtight." Tara replied, looking above them at the treetops. "You?"

"Airtight." He said, looking at a section of trampled forest. "There was something there, look at the leaves, the dirt." He pointed with his rifle. "Something was watching us."

"Covenant?" Tara asked, double checking her ammunition. It didn't look Covenant to her, more like an animal.

"Don't know. Follow the trail. It's the only lead we have." Matt stated, not happy with the prospect of simply following a trail. "And the longer we stay here," He continued, the easier it'll be for us to be found by hostiles."

Tara nodded, hoisting her rucksack and attaching it onto her back, her worry still there, but hidden well.

"We'd better get moving."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **And that was the first chapter, a prologue of sorts, if you will. The first meeting will occur next chapter.**

 **Now, as to my comments:**

 **[1] We don't know exactly which Company Roland and Jonah (From _Halo Evolutions Headhunters_ ) were from, but I'm going to dispel any thoughts of Matt and Tara being the better pair, they aren't, they're average.**

 **[2] Spartan III's are, at the end of the day, psychotic sociopaths, and I have no doubt ONI would send some on terror campaigns to do whatever they wanted to the Covenant.**

 **[3] Each Spartan III Company had a general theme for naming Fireteams, Alpha was animals, Beta the photo-numeric alphabet, and Gamma blades, I've decided Headhunters were mythological creatures, as it fits the theme of Spartans that didn't exist, essentially, myths.**

 **[4] Spartan III's weren't given the thyroid implant the II's were, thus, they would still have sexual urges/females would still have their monthly cycle, etc, etc. And at any rate, its better to have it, and not need it, then to need it and not have it, right?**

 **And that's all for now, guys, don't forget to favorite and follow if you enjoyed, a review would be nice as well. ;)**

 **Until next time,**

 **-gwb**


	2. First Contact

**HELLO EVERYONE! Yes, I live, under a new name, but still alive.**

 **Right, so, first off, I apologize for how long this took, as well as the length. I couldn't really decide how I wanted this chapter to pan out, even now, I don't think it's how it should be, but I wanted to send it out anyways, just so people know I'm not dead.**

 **Now, for some reviews. I did answer most of these in PM's, but I thought I would go over them again, here, just so people know what's going on.**

 **Right, so, several reviews mentioned they assumed the Headhunters would declare for, or protect the Stark's in the future. While this is a good assumption, it's not really logical. At this point, they assume they're in enemy held territory, potentially surrounded by Insurgents and Rebels. And even if they're aren't, (which, we know they aren't) they will still assume so, because they have no reason not to assume so, and, the Stark's, despite their niceness and hospitality are still potential threats. Later on? They will probably learn to trust the Stsrks, but they will never declare for them. The reasons for this are two fold. One, to do so means swearing an oath of fealty, and two, this means that, until they regain contact with the UNSC HighCom, they _ARE_ the UNSC, and thus, would technically be declaring war on whichever House is an enemy of the one they declared for. Will they defend themselves if attacked? Absolutely, but they won't swear fealty.**

 **Another reviewer, Anquietas, mentioned that Spartans wouldn't carry underwear or toiletries with them, this is an understandable assumption, however, unlike MJOLNIR, SPI doesn't have the waste filtration systems of its larger tankier predecessor, nor the heating and cooling systems. Spartans III's are also on much longer term deployments than their S-II counterparts, lasting weeks to months, and so ammo alone won't cut it. I will concede the dress uniform (I honestly don't know what I myself was thinking) however, as to your comment about reading the Lore, I have, and, _Halo: Glasslands_ shows us Spartans do carry underwear, toiletries, and extra clothes as well as ammo, food, and a data-pad in their rucksack. It's actually the only reason Blue Team was found, because Lucy-B091, who was stuck with a group of engineers and unable to communicate, dumps her rucksack to find something write with. An engineer picks up one of her spare underwear which has her name on the seam, allowing communication to begin develop between them. So, whenever people are happy that Blue Team is back in the new books, like _Last Light_ and even the new games, just remember it was all because a Spartan remembered to pack her underwear. :D**

 **To the guest who left me...whatever it was you left me with those paragraphs, I thank you, and will read through it post haste.**

 **Of course, the disclaimer. I own nothing (Jon Snow) except my OC's.**

 **Right, onto the chapter, enjoy, and please review!**

* * *

 **Location** **Unknown, 22:00 hours, April 16th 2545 (UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time)**

It had been fifteen minutes and twenty six...twenty seven...twenty eight seconds since Tara had woken up in this mysterious forest. She still had no idea where she was, no idea what planet she was on, and no idea what to do.

During the last fifteen minutes the two Headhunters had been walking in the vague direction of an animal, a deer, Tara assumed based on the tracks they were following, or something like a deer. While the odds it would lead the Spartans to people or just civilization in general were slim to none, it would provide a good meal, hopefully, and Tara knew that, if she had the option, she would gladly commit deericide if it meant never eating another Marine issue MRE ever again.

She raised her helmet to the sky, once again confirming the current time was not the same as her helmet clock, which quite cleanly read 22:01. It had been adjusted for Thebas's twenty nine hour cycle, of course, but the weather here was one of the many indicators that they weren't on the Covenant colony anymore. It looked to be about noon here, though Tara wouldn't change her clock until she had confirmation.

She was five metres ahead of Matt, as per standard patrol formations, and thus could more easily see signs the animal had come this way, broken twigs, hoof prints...It also meant she could hear the voices.

There were several, all sounded male, and all speaking standard Earth English **[1]** , though, with admittedly heavy accents. Before even the first full word had registered in her mind Tara had activated her SPI's Photoreactive panels and raised her MA5K to her shoulder. Behind her, Matt did the same and the two III's blended into the forest around them, waiting.

* * *

 **Wolfswood, Westeros, 12:34 hours 298 AL (Local Time) Local calendar**

"We're not going to find anything Father." Robb Stark stated for the second time in ten minutes as he stepped over a fallen log and around a pile of dead branches. "We've been walking for ten minutes with nary a trace of Wildlings."

Eddard didn't respond to his son as he kept walking, hand on his sword hilt, but found himself silently agreeing with Robb. They hadn't found any Wildlings, true, but with The King due to arrive in Winterfell within the next two weeks Lord Stark wanted to err on the side of caution.

After another five minutes of walking Eddard was about to tell them to head back when a voice shouted out from somewhere to his left.

"Stop where you are! Identify yourselves!" The voice was male sounding, young. Eddard guessed the speaker couldn't have been older than his twentieth Nameday.

Eddard was on edge immediately, but the voice didn't sound like that of a Wildling, it was full of authority, like a Knight's, yet, surely a Knight would show themselves.

Lord Stark and his party stopped where they were. Robb and Theon both had drawn swords, and Jory readied his bow, but Jon kept his sword sheathed, as did Eddard.

The Lord of Winterfell stepped forwards thinking it better to remain peaceful, and avoid any bloodshed unless absolutely necessary, not to mention he had no real idea who he was facing. For all he knew there were a dozen men hiding in the brush. So he stepped forwards, his hands were kept away from his sword hilt as he shouted in the direction of the voice.

"I am Lord Eddard of house Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North under his Grace the King of Westeros, Robert Baratheon, First of his name." Ned shouted into the trees as the rest of the party tensed. It wasn't the full titles of either of the two men, but Ned doubted a barrage of titles would affect the situation. "And I command thee reveal thy selves!" For a solid minute there was no reply, until the group heard some rustling and the "Wildlings" emerged.

Ned wasn't quite sure what he expected would emerge from the thick forest, but he certainly wasn't expecting the two shimmering forms to reveal themselves less than five metres from his position.

They were almost liquid like in their shape, the light bending and reflecting away from them, yet at the same time, passing through them as though they didn't exist. They reminded Ned of the mirages that were often encountered across the sea, in the deserts of the Free Cities. Ned stared down the apparitions silently before, as though deciding he was safe to speak to, the shimmering forms solidified, revealing two suits of almost Knightly plate.

Despite the seeming resemblance the suits were like no plate armour Ned had ever encountered. Instead of shining metal the suits were painted a drab light brown that reflected nothing, and the helms were, on the contrary, a seemingly shining gold that Ned couldn't see through, almost as though he was looking through a mirror. **[2]**

The weapons they held, to, were different and unfamiliar to him. They reminded him of a crossbow, to be sure, yet, the similarities ended there. Eddard saw nowhere a bow string could be located, nor did he see a bolt. And unlike a crossbow, the weapons held across these Knight's chests were made of blackened metal, for Ned could see no wood along the weapons.

"Who are you?!" Theon shouted as both groups tensed at the sudden words, the Greyjoy seemingly impatient with how things were progressing, or just nervous. Ned couldn't blame him, however he held up a calming hand as he noted one of the Knights had braced themselves against a tree on their right, which Ned noted kept them covered from Jory's bow unless the Guard Captain repositioned, and raised their weapon a tad.

One of the Knights placed it's weapon on it's back, though, how the crossbow like weapon attached to the back armour without any sling or rope none of the Westerosi could say, before the figure took a tentative step forwards, it's hands raised in the air as if surrendering.

He noted, by the way it walked and the shape and contours of its body that it almost appeared like it was a woman, though, looks could of course be deceiving.

"Our apologies, sir." The Knight, who revealed herself to indeed be a woman by her voice, (a young voice at that, almost like a young teens. Was the woman a squire, perhaps?) stated as she stopped in front of him about a metre away. "We're a little lost...and, as to who we are," the woman tilted her mirror-helm towards Theon, "we're Soldiers, and we were sent here by mistake, from a land far, far away from here, so far you would have probably never heard of it." The woman stated in an accent not to dissimilar from those beyond the wall. Based on her accent alone, Ned might have mistaken her for a Wildling.

"Have you come to invade?" Robb asked before Ned could speak. He shot his son a look that said _be quiet!_ before he turned back to look at the two soldiers.

"No, our arrival here was accidental." The woman stated. "I'm Petty Officer Second Class Tara, and that's Matthew, Petty Officer, First Class." She jerked a thumb at her companion, who had kept his gaze on the group from his position at the tree.

Ned gestured to the others in their party to sheathe their weapons. He was intrigued by the words Petty Officer, a title, or rank of some kind, no doubt. "We have no ill will towards you, Petty Officer Tara, or Matt, and would be happy to bring you back to Winterfell, so that our two kingdoms could better get to know one another."

In truth, Ned was wary of these strangers, and felt that Winterfell would be a good place to monitor them, not to mention the King would soon be arriving, and Ned could receive his consul on the matter.

"I suppose the King isn't the only head of state we'll be receiving this month, Lord Stark." Jory muttered. Ned didn't answer him, waiting for a reply from the strangers.

A second later Tara replied. "We accept."

* * *

 **En route to Winterfell(?), Westeros(?) 22:47 hours, April 16th, 2545 (Local Time) UNSC Military Calendar**

All in all, things could have gone worse, Tara thought absentmindedly as she walked out of the thick woods and into open fields.

For starters, it was likely that these men might not have spoken any English, and while Tara was fluent in French, she knew that that language was an even less likely candidate than English for these people to speak, if one took official UNSC consensus into account.

Tara and Matt, of course, were wondering who these people were, Tara herself had even at one point assumed these _weren't_ people, that maybe they just _looked like_ people. she almost hoped they were aliens, because if they were people...

...If these were indeed humans, then why were they so primitive? And where in the galaxy were they? Those were the main questions that needed to be answered, the priorities. The man in front of Tara, the leader, Eddard, or, Lord Stark, had said they were in some place called Westeros. Tara had never heard of it, and she had heard of most places in UNSC space.

"What do you think?" Matt asked through a private channel as he kept pace beside her. "Innie trap?"

To the rest of the group, the two Spartans were completely mute, in fact, the party hadn't heard them speak since Tara accepted the invitation to journey to Winterfell, which was only two hours or so away.

"Don't know...maybe." She replied, drumming her fingers along the grip of her MA5K and looking around at each of the other party members. "If it is, ammo won't be a problem, at least."

"And if it isn't an Innie trap?" Matt queried, turning to look behind them and absentmindedly counting how many rounds of ammunition he had on his person.

"Then we adapt and deal with it." The young girl replied. "Besides, this is definitely better than what I thought might have happened when I touched that Crystal." Matt raised an eyebrow under his helmet.

"And what did you think happened?"

"I don't know, world ending apocalypse, the End Times, you know, something explosivey." Tara exclaimed.

"Explosivey isn't a word, Tara." Matter murmured, swatting a fly out of the air.

"You know what I meant." She muttered as they kept walking.

"Comm still down?" Matt asked, already knowing the answer. Tara nodded and adjusted her rucksack.

"Figured out what to do when they quiz us?" Tara asked as she looked left, then right.

"Sob story? Might endear us to them. You still have your holo projector?" Matt queried. Tara nodded again.

"We telling them my history then?" She asked, not really sounding bothered by the notion.

"If they believe you to be an heiress to a big family fortune and planet, all the better for us. they'll probably treat us better." Matt muttered in his typical whisper.

"That's assuming they don't freak out from what we show them. They'll have even more questions." Tara stated. "What do we answer?"

"Whatever we can without divulging classified Intel. Cole Protocal is clear." Matt answered. **[3]**

"Copy that."

They were coming up on a large castle. Tara could see the towers and ramparts coming up. It was a large castle, but she noted several flaws in its defence. She saw no moat, nor a drawbridge. Simply a wall and guard towers. That was to say nothing of how primitive it was. Her mind immediately noted the missing gun towers, electrified fences and tank traps, amount other things that would have been commonplace in the 26th century.

Of course, it wasn't the fault of the people living there, her mind was simply still processing the situation.

"There, Winterfell." The man with a bow, Jory, pointed out the the two Spartans and the rest of the party.

"Home sweet home." The boy, Robb muttered happily.

As they approached Tara noted guards and sentries along the walls eying them suspiciously. It was understandable, of course, but her fists tightened and she wished she could hold her rifle, unfortunately Tara and Matt had both agreed to place their weapons on their backs, so as to look peaceful, still, unease gripped her as they passed a a group of guards on patrol, all carried shields on their backs, which Tara noted had an engraving of a Wolf's head, the same as on the banners hanging from the castle walls. The guards nodded to Lord Stark, who motioned towards the two Spartans.

"These are our guests, you are to treat them with respect, and answer any questions they may have." The sentries nodded, and watched the Spartans with curious intrigue as the group continued further into Winterfell. Jory, however, didn't accompany them further, the House Gusrd seemingly heading into a barracks of some sort.

Upon reaching the main courtyard an older red haired woman, along with two young boys walked up to them. She was finely dressed compared to the other civilians the group had gone past, so Tara assumed this was perhaps Lord Stark's wife and his youngest children. "Ned, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" She good naturedly chastised him as the two embraced.

"Mother, these are Petty Officers Tara and Matt, we found them in the Wolfswood." Robb explained, gesturing towards Tara and Matt with a hand.

The woman stared at the two Spartans, perplexed and seemingly a little frightened of them. Finally, she seemed to catch herself and uttered a rather awkward, but good natured, "Lady Caitlyn Stark, How do you do?"

"Well Ma'am, thank you." Tara stated before sending Matt a yellow acknowledgement light to notify him to cover her, and then slowly removed her helmet. **[4]**

It was a risky move, nether Spartan could confirm whether they were in enemy territory, or if there were hostiles, human or otherwise, watching them, and without the helmet, Tara was opening herself up to far more attack vectors, not to mention until she replied the helm, she wouldn't have any type of HUD, and her Photo-reactive panels wouldn't activate. Still, both Spartans had agreed they needed to show their faces, and Tara would be first, as they both assumed she would give off a much more disarming presence.

There was a gasp from their right and a voice shouted "See, I told you she was a girl!" As one, the group turned to see two girls on a raised balcony overlooking the courtyard. One of the girls, the older one, looked like she could have been Tara's older sister, while the younger girl, who was pointing at Tara with a grin on her face, looked more like one of Lord Stark's children.

That at wasn't the only sound the group heard. Tara didn't even need to look to know Matt had taken a knee, his rifle was already in his hands and the safety had been flicked off so fast Tara doubted anyone could distinguish the noise from his movement. Upon seeing no threat, he lowered the Marksman Rifle, flipped the safety back on and mag locked it to his back yet again.

Tara looked at the others gathered around apologetically, but offered no comment.

"Arya! Sansa!" Lord Stark's wife shouted up at the girls, who ducked down and blushed respectively. "Get down here! We have important guests!" She continued, looking at Lord Stark, who nodded in confirmation.

Lady Stark turned to Tara and Matt, looking as apologetic as Tara had. "You all must be tired. I'll have rooms prepared for you, and baths drawn up, if you'll follow me?"

Tara smiled in spite of herself and the situation. Stranded? Sure, potentially in enemy territory? Absolutely, but a bath sounded lovely right about now. Still, there was one thing that needed to be changed.

The young Spartan opened her mouth to speak to Lady Stark, however she felt a squeeze of her shoulder. She turned to see Matt's SPI faceplate inches from her face, shaking from side to side.

Tara remembered they had agreed, until they could figure out where they were, and what was going on, they need to be hospitable, that meant not asking to many things, or requesting things that would seem out of place. Tara had been about to request a single room, but Matt, knowing this, stopped her. The less conversation about them, the better.

Tara sighed, and followed Lady Stark as the sun began to set behind them, a fitting sight, in a way.

They wouldn't see the light again for a long, long time.

* * *

 **And that's all folks!**

 **My comments for this chapter are as follows**

 **[1] I could have had Westerosi and English be separate languages, but it just would have been unnecessary and added inconsequential things, not to mention I want everyone to understand one another to some extent.**

 **[2] Westeros doesn't have Visors like the SPI faceplate, in truth, that scene would have had far more confusion from Ned at how odd Tara and Matt looked, which is partly why I don't think this chapter is really that good, but I've never been good with conveying that type of confusion well, and it would feel hamfisted and odd, so, just assume he's utterly dumbstruck by what he's seeing, as are everyone else.**

 **[3] As I mentioned up top, these are Spartans dealing with people who don't have the clearance to hear about all the classified stuff of the UNSC, so, mentions of "home" will be sparse, and as vague as the III's can make them so as not to divulge and classified Intel. It's a common pet peeve I have with stories where Spartans just give up everything. It's OOC and doesn't make sense.**

 **[4] This is rather OOC for a Spartan, considering the area wasn't secure, and neither Spartan could verify they were clear of hostiles, however, in this instance, Tara and Matt agreed looking non threatening was the best option, rather than personal security, so Tara removed her helmet, and, consequently, when Arya shouted Matt assumed her a threat, and, would have probably gunned her down without remorse, but then, he realized she seemed harmless, so didn't fire. Remember, these are soldiers trained since they were four years old, their first instinct would be to assess a threat, and if necessary eliminate it. They don't have Cortana or another A.I or UNSC personnel to keep them in check, all they have is each other.**

 **Right, that's it for me, don't forget to review, and follow and favourite if you liked this, until next time, guys and gals. :)**


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